RESPECT

Today is a sad day. Our city is burying one of its sons. He was killed by small arms fire in Iraq. His funeral is this morning at the local arena.

Driving to work I noticed a lot of the flags flying high and not at half staff as the governor ordered. I took it upon myself to call seven local businesses around the arena to lower their flags in honor of Staff Sgt (Green Beret) Robb Rolfing. I did not know this young man or any of his family but out of respect and the ultimate sacrifice he and his family have given to this country, I felt it was my duty to call these businesses and tell them to lower their flag in his honor. It seemed like a lot of the businesses were surprised by my request to lower their flag and I even got transferred four times at one hotel chain (Sheraton) in order to leave a message on the managers voice mail! I guess no one could take this on themselves and do the RIGHT thing especially since they are right next door to the arena.

Have we become so numb that the death of a soldier is no big deal anymore? COME ON PEOPLE! Even though some of us do not agree with what is going on over in Iraq, we are still obligated to treat our soldiers with respect. They put their life on the line every second of every day so that we remain a free country. How many of you can say that? I know that fighting for our country is not for everyone, not even me, but we need to treat every soldier with RESPECT and lower a flag in their honor when they have paid the ultimate price for us.

Peace...........